TOP Damian Lewis Moments 2022: A Spy Among Friends

“Don’t take your eyes off this star-packed espionage thriller.” – Guardian

Kim Philby is arguably the most famous – or should I say infamous? – secret agent of all times. He may not be as well known as James Bond, but in contrast to 007, Philby was a real-life spy and the most successful member of the Cambridge Five, a group of spies recruited by the Russians to pass information from the UK to the Soviet Union during the Second World War through 1950s. A charming and brilliant Cambridge graduate, he quickly rose to the top of the counterintelligence unit at the MI6. He became the head of the anti-Soviet unit, served as the MI6 chief in Istanbul and ultimately became MI6’s Washington-based liaison with the CIA. Having his confidantes at MI6 and becoming close friends with James Angleton, a rising star at the CIA . While his betrayal got some of his colleagues into big trouble and took several Soviet defectors to their deaths, nobody suspected Philby for years. And when some at the MI5 flagged him, his colleagues at the MI6 and the CIA came to the rescue. When they finally had the evidence to confront him, Philby had already provided secret information to the Soviets for 30 years! Continue reading “TOP Damian Lewis Moments 2022: A Spy Among Friends”

A Spy Among Friends, Episode 2: The Admiral’s Glass

Elliott: Do you remember The Admiral’s Glass?

Philby: The Admiral’s what?

Elliott: Glass. By Southwark Bridge.

As her husband picks up the carrots he grew in their London backyard, Lily  listens and re-listens to the Beirut tapes. What happened at The Admiral’s Glass? And why on earth is Philby seriously alarmed when an ambulance with sirens on arrives at their building? Continue reading “A Spy Among Friends, Episode 2: The Admiral’s Glass”

TOP Damian Lewis Moments 2022: ‘Keane’ Screening and Q&A at Film at Lincoln Center

Grasshopper films giving Lodge Kerrigan’s beautiful movie Keane a 4K restoration and bringing it back to life on big screen across the US is a highlight on its own. And when the 4K restored Keane screening at the Film Society of Lincoln Center is coupled with the director and the actor Damian Lewis intoducing the film together, watching  it with the audience and doing a lively Q&A after the screening makes it a top moment! And I feel very privileged to have shared that special evening – full house at Francesca Beale Theater – with Mr. Kerrigan, Damian and my fellow independent movie fans. The evening felt  like a collective celebration of independent cinema.

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A Spy Among Friends, Episode 1: Boom-ooh-yatatatah

I just finished watching  the six-part A Spy Among Friends on ITVX and cannot wait to share my episode reviews with you! Since, unlike Billions that releases one episode per week, ITVX has dropped all episodes together. So my plan is to share one episode recap per week. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do putting them together.

First things first: As someone who read Ben MacIntyre’s book twice, I find Alexander Cary’s adaptation very clever. Nick Murphy’s background in documentary is evident and Joanna Eatwell proves once again she is the master of costume design. Damian Lewis, Guy Pearce and Anna Maxwell Martin give off-the-chart brilliant performances.

A Spy Among Friends is slow-cooking, captivating and elegant. It is  cinematic to a degree that I envy the viewers who could see the first two episodes on big screen at the BFI London Film Festival. There are time jumps and you need to pay attention – don’t text and watch 🙂 So, yes, ladies and gentlemen, A Spy Among Friends is exactly my cup of tea!

So shall we?

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Anniversary of Bastogne

 

battle of the bulge, bastogne, band of brothers
Source: http://yalebooksblog.co.uk/2014/12/22/held-bastogne-2-americans-strike-back/

This week marks the 78th anniversary of the Siege at Bastogne, a pivotal confrontation in Battle of the Bulge, which saw the Allied forces assert their most courageous and bloody defense against the last big push by Nazi forces in WWII.

The Bastogne episode of Band of Brothers was arguably the most emotionally intense and beautifully filmed of the series. It was like watching a dream sequence through a filter of constant snow, a bitter cold that you could almost feel in your bones as you’re watching. Like an opera of bodies, bent over, running for cover, crouching near trees, or frozen solid to the ground. You could watch all the action without sound and still feel it viscerally.

Did anyone see the new Star Wars? The sight of the salt planet with the blood red soil under the thin layer of salt brought immediately to this viewer’s mind the red against white of the smoke grenades the soldiers in Band of Brothers set off to obscure their positions from the Germans. Such a visually poignant and memorable cinematic effect.

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